Canoeing the Mississippi is Musuem program for May 1

April 27, 2013

The next meeting of the Tama County Historical and Genealogical Society will be 7 pm Wednesday, May 1 at the museum 200 N. Broadway, Toledo.

The program for the evening will be a presentation by Anne Sherve-Ose on her experiences canoeing the Mississippi River. The public is invited to attend.

Her adventure started 10 years ago when she and two college friends decided to paddle canoes from the Mississippi headwaters in Itasca State Park, Minn., to the Twin Cities.

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Here's Anne Sherve-Ose's story and what she will be presenting:

I am the head of the music department at Ellsworth Community College. I have worked in Iowa Falls at the college for 15 years. In the summers I do extensive travelling, including paddling on the Mississippi. This has been going on for ten years now.

A group of college girlfriends and I started at Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota at the headwaters of the Mississippi. Each year we paddle for 7-10 days, and then begin at that ending spot the next year.

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We joked at the beginning of this adventure that we would be 70 years old by the time we reached New Orleans. Now, that is not quite so funny anymore! We are currently nearly to Memphis, Tenn.

I spend a lot of time canoeing in northern Minnesota in the Boundary Waters area, and also across the border in Canada in the Quetico Provincial Park. I worked for five summers in the Boundary Waters as a canoe and fishing guide, and have gone back every summer for the past 40 years.

I also lead a group of Ellsworth students on a humanities trip to the Boundary Waters when I can get enough interest in the class. In addition, I kayak with my dog on rivers in Iowa.

My topic will be about this Mississippi River adventure--camping, storms, drinking water and food supplies, logistics, personalities, locks and dams, hazards, beauty, and anything else that comes to mind.